11.04.16 - (PRESS
RELEASE) Women in Poland may face risks to their health and lives as a
result of the country’s highly restrictive abortion law—according to a report
released today by the United Nations Human Rights Committee (U.N. Committee).

The U.N. Committee expressed serious concerns about
the high number of women in Poland seeking unsafe abortions, which could put
their health and lives at risk, because of the country’s restrictive abortion
law. The committee also stressed its concern regarding the serious barriers
that women who seek access to abortion encounter, including the lengths women
are forced to travel to access services.

The Center for Reproductive Rights submitted a report
with local Polish human rights organizations, including the Federation for Women and Family
Planning, to the U.N. Committee earlier this year to bring attention to
serious reproductive rights violations stemming from Poland’s restrictive
abortion law.

“For far too
long women in Poland have faced insurmountable barriers when they need an
abortion,” said Leah Hoctor, regional director for Europe at the Center for
Reproductive Rights. “Today’s response
from the United Nations Human Rights Committee confirms the need for Polish
lawmakers to take serious legal and practical measures to improve women’s
access to reproductive health services. It’s time for the Polish government to
amend its laws so women can receive the medical services they deserve with
dignity.”

“The very
restrictive nature of the existing law itself has generated a punitive and
stigmatizing environment and a strong chilling effect on doctors that
undermines effective implementation of the law,” Said Krystyna Kacpura,
executive director of the Federation for Women and Family Planning. “We remain very concerned about further
attempts to restrict the law, because it is already functioning as nearly a de
facto ban on abortion.”

In its recommendations, the U.N. Committee warned
Poland not to adopt any new abortion law in the future that would further
restrict women’s already very limited access to abortion services.

On October 6, the Polish Parliament halted
discussions on a draft bill which would have banned
abortion in all circumstances and criminalized women who obtained abortion
services, after massive public outcry over the measure with millions of people
protesting the ban in Poland and around the world. Reproductive health experts
and women’s rights organizations remain concerned that new restrictive
initiatives may be introduced in the future.

Abortion
in Poland is legal only in very limited circumstances: when the pregnancy
endangers the life or health of the woman; when there is a high probability of
severe fetal impairments; and when the pregnancy results from sexual
assault. Abortion is illegal in all
other cases, and any doctor or person who helps a woman to obtain an abortion
outside of the scope of the law is liable to a three-year prison sentence. Abortion access in practice is even more
restricted. There are entire regions of Poland where women who are eligible for
legal abortion are unable to find a doctor or hospital willing to perform an
abortion under the law.